Exploring: Queen Anne

Depending on the time of year you are looking at, you may be able to attend one of the many outdoor festivals held at Seattle Center including: Bumbershoot, Folklife Festival, and Bite of Seattle.

The local radio station KEXP also hold free concerts at the mural amphitheater in the summer months. Stop by and watch them broadcast from the new La Marzocco Cafe, with a viewing window directly into the DJ Booth!

Go up 605 feet into the Space Needle! If you haven’t done it, you are obligated, it is absolutely the best view of the entire city and the sound. Opt to have dinner in the restaurant if you don’t want to come down just yet. If you don’t go up at least go to Kerry Park on Highland Drive, and have a look at the needle from afar. It’s an excellent place to take in the sunset!

MoPop! (Formerly EMP) Museum of Pop Culture

Rotating exhibits at the MoPop! From music and art to sci-fi, fantasy, and the indie game revolution. This place is so cool! Even if you don’t go inside be sure to stop by and check out the architecture and walk the grounds. The building was designed by Frank O. Gehry, and the building appears to change color from different angles. MoPop museum is a non profit interested in empowering it’s visitors, and contributing to art education.

Grab a Bite!

From coffee shops to restaurants, from lower Queen Anne to the top of the hill, there are so many options for food and drink…The following is no where near a complete list, just a place to start:

What to do in Ballard

Shop Till You Drop!

Ballard Reuse: Funky Reused Building materials and items, with a focus on architectural salvage…Just up on Market St. Bop Street Records for the music junkie with heaps and heaps of vinyl! Check out Stores like: Horseshoe, Trove Vintage, Space Oddity, Dutch Bike Co, Re-Soul, second ascent.

Eat Eat Eat!

There is no shortage of delicious eats in Ballard! Some of my favorites are La Isla: Authentic Puerto Rican Cuisine. Senior Moose is a local favorite, with some of the best Mexican food in town! Stop in and have a Top Pot Donut, or try the famous oysters at Walrus and Carpenter.

Farmer’s Market!

Every Sunday Old Ballard Ave closes it’s streets to cars and opens for the local farmer’s market. Do your shopping local and pick up a variety of local goods and organic, fresh local fruits and vegetables! Who doesn’t want to shake hands with the person that grew their food? Check out items such as local fresh seafood, local honey, and more. Pick up a growler of local beer, a fresh pie, some soda, mustard, jam, or ice cream. Not to mention the booths of local artists and craftsmen! This is not to be missed!

The Locks

Here, the fresh waters of Lake Washington and Lake Union drop 22ft into saltwater Puget Sound. 100,000 boats pass through the canal and locks annually. Go when the salmon are spawning and see fish-ladder activity through underwater windows, stroll through the gardens and visit the museum.

Golden Gardens

Have a bonfire and watch the sunset over the Olympic Mountains! The park features two wetlands and a short trail. Enjoy activities from sunbathing to fishing to stand up paddle boarding. The parking can be a struggle during the summer months. Walk down to Un Bien, a colorful shack offering Caribbean sandwiches made with roast pork & served on Macrina bread. Wed-Sat: 11-9, Sun: 11-8

Boaters and vessel operators would not be able to release sewage, treated or untreated, into Puget Sound under a proposal by Washington state regulators.

The Department of Ecology said Thursday, July 21 it and other state agencies petitioned the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to designate the waters of Puget Sound a “no discharge zone” to improve water quality and protect shellfish beds and swimming beaches from harmful bacteria.

If approved, the zone would cover waters from near Sequim to south Puget Sound to the Canadian border, and includes Lake Washington and Lake Union. There are dozens of no-discharge zones in the country, but this would be the first in the Pacific Northwest.

Critics say the proposal is too broad and will be costly for many who would have to retrofit their vessels to accommodate holding tanks. They say many vessel operators currently use marine sanitation devices to treat sewage before it’s pumped overboard.

“This designation is an important piece of our strategy, and is a necessary step forward for one of our state’s most prized ecological treasures,” Department of Ecology Director Maia Bellon said in a statement Thursday.

The agency said in its petition that “vessel sewage discharges are small in volume, but have high potential impact due to proximity, often directly over or near shellfish and other protected resources, such as swimming beaches.” It also leaves shellfish beds vulnerable and threatens an important shellfish food supply in Washington, officials said.

The department says it sought the petition after four years of evaluation, outreach and public feedback. The EPA has 90 days to review the petition and make a decision.

If approved, the zone would immediately apply to all vessels, with the exception of tugboats, commercial fishing vessels and some boats that would have five years to retrofit their vessels. There are more than 150,000 recreational and commercial vessels in Puget Sound.

Many boaters currently pump out toilet waste at stationary facilities, hold waste in tanks, or treat the waste before pumping it out. Currently, boaters are allowed to pump out treated sewage anywhere in Puget Sound. Federal law allows vessels to dump raw sewage only in waters more than 3 miles from the coast.

In its petition, state regulators say treated sewage discharges contain fecal bacteria concentrations that are many times higher than the state water quality standards.

A group representing numerous vessel operators, ports and shipyards say they’re concerned The Department of Ecology is moving ahead “without due regard for either the economic or scientific arguments against a Sound-wide NDZ,” the Puget Sound NDZ Marine Alliance wrote to department officials in May.

Chris Wilke with the Puget Soundkeeper Alliance praised the move. “It’s time we looked at all pollution and stop treating Puget sound like our toilet,” he said.

Ecology department officials say most recreational and commercial vessels in Puget Sound with on-board toilets have holding tanks or use pump-out stations, or wait to release sewage more than three miles from shore. They estimate about 215 commercial boats and 2,000 recreational boats would need to add holding tanks.

Retrofits for tug boats and commercial vessels could range from negligible to $161,000, according to a consultant for the department. The cost of adding a holding tank on a recreational boat is estimated to be about $1,500.

Just a quick note that the small lock in Hiram M. Chittenden (Ballard) Locks will be closed to marine traffic next week! It will start at noon on Monday 3/14 through 5pm on Friday 3/25. They will be conducting maintenance and safety inspections during this time. Foot traffic won’t be affected and the large lock will continue operations for marine vessels. The staff and crew at the locks are attempting to get commercial traffic through as quickly as possible as they have priority. Pleasure boaters will use the large lock and boaters should be prepared with appropriate equipment and crew. That means a minimum of 2 50’ lines with an eye at least 12 inches in diameter on one end as well as an adequate number of fenders for both sides of your vessel as you will be much more likely to raft off another boat in the large locks than the small. The need for the 50’ lines are because the large lock does not have a sliding wall like the small lock does. There may be delays so please plan for that. It’s not like they want to run the large lock for just a boat or two so they will probably wait for a larger number of boats. Pay attention to the lock attendants and you’ll be fine!

The planned closure is to inspect and repair the machinery and equipment which is original and 99 years old!